The Tougheys are a family who live on a ranch in the late twentieth century. Old Red is the 96-year-old grandfather who started the ranch. His son, Aladdin, took control of the ranch from him fifteen years ago when Old Red criticized and insulted him for not working quickly, and the younger Aladdin pelted him with dirt and rocks until he surrendered. Aladdin's wife, Wauneta, taught her two daughters, Ottaline and Shane, to dote on Old Red until she walked in on him restraining Ottaline on his lap. Afterwards, she warned her daughters away from him, avoided him, and longed for his death. Years later, Shane graduates high school and moves to Las Vegas, where she designs packages for religious CDs and gets into bodybuilding. Ottaline, who is overweight, finds herself stuck at home doing housework and then farmwork, at which she is much better. Her only son, Tyler, has a quick temper and one night, angry at his family, he storms off and doesn't come back. Ottaline wants to go to the city to find a job, but her father won't let her take his truck. She feels bored and lonely at home, and remembers a man named Hal Bloom, whom her father hired to work on the ranch and she had sex with, but he's long gone. She tries to lose weight. One day, she hears a voice talking to her. She discovers that it's her father's old, broken tractor. The tractor complains about how poorly her father took care of it and begs her to get it repaired. She works on repairing the tractor with her father, but then forgets about it. Old Red develops pneumonia and sends Ottaline in his place to bargain with a cattle dealer. However, it is not the cattle dealer who arrives, but his son, Flyby. The two hit it off. Flyby cuts Ottaline's mother's field of wheat, which was from her wedding and which she never wants cut. Flyby and Ottaline get married. Aladdin gets a loan for a plane, flies it home, and does tricks in the sky above his family. Wauneta yells at him to come down and, on the way, the wheel hits the old tractor. The plane crashes, and Aladdine dies. Ottaline blames her mother for calling him down; her mother blames the fact that her wedding wheat was cut. Old Red says it's his own fault and reflects on his staying power at the ranch.